April 17, 2007

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The BIG EAST Conference announced the home and away league schedule of opponents for the 2007-08 women's basketball season Tuesday. Highlighting Marquette's conference home schedule is a date with national finalist Rutgers. Rival DePaul will also make a trip to the Al McGuire Center during the upcoming season.

For the third consecutive year, the format for league play is a 16-game schedule. Each team will play 16 conference games - seven opponents home only, seven opponents away only and one opponent both home and away, a repeat opponent. Each member will have a total of eight home and eight away games.

In addition to Rutgers and DePaul making stops at "The Al," Marquette will host the following schools as apart of its home-only slate: Cincinnati, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Providence and Seton Hall.

The Golden Eagles will face these seven teams on the road; Connecticut, Louisville, Notre Dame, St. John's, Syracuse, Villanova, and West Virginia. USF and Marquette will face each other on both of its respective home courts.

Marquette is coming off a record-breaking season in 2006-07 in which the team set the school record for wins in a single season (26) en route to the Golden Eagles first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2003-04 season. BIG EAST Coach of the Year, Terri Mitchell returns six letterwinners including All-American Krystal Ellis. Marquette will welcome four newcomers to the 2007-08 squad.

The BIG EAST landed eight teams in this year's NCAA Championship, tied for the most in NCAA history. The league also earned eight bids in 2004. Connecticut was one of four top seeds in the national tournament, while Rutgers, as the No. 4 seed, made its run to the national championship game. Marquette, Louisville, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and DePaul were all part of the 64-team field. In addition, USF and Seton Hall participated in the 2007 Postseason National Invitation Tournament.